Embarrassing, Awkward, Language and Work: Lost in translation

Lost in translation

By ohhhman - 10/04/2009 00:13 - United States

Today, one of the Haitians that works in the kitchen at my restaurant said something to me. Usually I can't understand them and I just smile and laugh, so that's what I did this time. Later, I found out he was trying to tell me his father had passed away. FML

I agree, your life sucks 19 702

You deserved it 58 250

Winter: Snow and Funny News
Snuggle up and laugh with our winter stories, where snow isn't the only thing sliding around! More…

Previous FML Next FML

Same thing different taste

By derbyboy - 19/10/2011 05:38 - United Kingdom

Today, at work, I misheard a customer telling me a story. To be polite, I did a slight laugh and nodded my head. She actually told me her mum had died. FML

I agree, your life sucks 27 146

You deserved it 22 096

Good

By fistpumpin4life - 10/10/2010 00:51 - France

Today, at work, I asked a lady how she was doing. When she replied, I didn't understand her, and instead of asking her what she'd said, I just replied with, "Oh, that's good." What she'd said that I didn't understand was that her husband had just died. FML

I agree, your life sucks 10 594

You deserved it 33 420

By Anonymous - 17/02/2010 16:32 - Canada

Today, while serving a rather large party at the restaurant where I work, I mentioned that the soup of the day was "to die for". After the hosts gave me weird looks, it dawned on me that the reason they were wearing all black is because they've just come back from a funeral. FML

I agree, your life sucks 27 891

You deserved it 11 707

By ... - 12/03/2009 18:57 - France

Today, the really hot guy that works in the same building as me came to work after being away for the past two days. I said, "Look who finally decided to come to work!" His response was, "I had a death in the family, thanks." FML

I agree, your life sucks 8 630

You deserved it 27 420

By Jim - 11/01/2012 01:32 - Belgium

Today, I told a co-worker to "lighten up, and stop wearing black all the time, it makes you look depressed." I didn't know his father had died the week before. FML

I agree, your life sucks 11 320

You deserved it 41 806

By perfectlybrokenx - 24/08/2010 04:21 - Canada

Today, while I was on a date, I noticed my ex-boyfriend in the restaurant, and he looked sad. So I walked over to see him and jokingly said, "You look like your mom died or something!" She had. FML

I agree, your life sucks 16 796

You deserved it 52 192

Interpreter blues

By Aleksandar - 25/11/2020 05:01

Today, at the hospital, I had to tell someone he was going to die because I was the only one to speak his language. FML

I agree, your life sucks 1 251

You deserved it 66

By KMKWEEN - 16/02/2009 14:37 - United States

Today, I was at work. I work at a grocery store and a woman pulls a cart to me filled with chips, breads, lunch meats, and sodas. I said to her "Looks like you are going to have a fun party" she then looks at me and says "My mother just died, this is for after the funeral. FML

I agree, your life sucks 43 912

You deserved it 10 693

Brain freeze

By Anonymous - 13/06/2024 07:00 - United States

Today, I work at a hospice center. At 3AM, a call just went out to a man's family to come because he was dying. I didn't realize that this man was my old friend's grandpa. When I saw her, I smiled really big and said, "Hey! Great to see you!" Her grandpa was ACTIVELY DYING. Stupid stupid stupid. FML

I agree, your life sucks 492

You deserved it 175

Assumptions part 27674

By dads can’t cook? - 17/03/2021 21:30

Today, I was messaging a new friend when she mentioned her dad was cooking dinner that night. I jokingly texted, “Oh no! I’m sorry!” Turns out her dad is a professional chef. FML

I agree, your life sucks 275

You deserved it 1 197

AMelodyofJuly 0

Friday 10 April 2009 9:48

Bummer. Maybe you should try to understand them better or just be honest and say, "I'm sorry but I just can't understand you; I'm so bad with accents."

mf_fml 0

Friday 10 April 2009 9:55

i don't care how many times i gotta look stupid repeatedly going "pardon? pardon?" i still gotta know EXACTLY what someone is trying to tell me.

Comments

Jareth_fml 0

Saturday 11 April 2009 7:22

You're a jerk. What's so bad about saying "Pardon? I didn't catch that." Nothing.

nuga 0

Saturday 11 April 2009 7:34

#30 You have probably not ever bothered to learn a second language then (and no, a few phrases you learned in high school Spanish doesn't count), it's harder than you think and I'm sure they are trying to learn. Don't go around saying ignorant things like that when you don't know what you're talking about, you're making the rest of us Americans look bad.

bukopandan 0

Saturday 11 April 2009 8:54

Oh, man! I do this all the time, too.

laughs2loud 0

Saturday 11 April 2009 17:13

first off. number 15 you're a jerk. and number 53 .. the town i live in has tons of hispanics.. and we speak english ..

hahahawow 0

Saturday 11 April 2009 18:22

no i totally know where you're coming from. i have an uncle that's Haitian that i've known for pretty much my whole life and i still need to ask him what he said 3 and 4 times before i understand. more often than not they get offended before you can figure out what they're saying. i say it's not your fault that they didn't learn English better

franny625 0

Saturday 11 April 2009 22:32

hahahahaha...that's so funny...don't worry your not ignorant at all...nobody is in this situation...just make you sure you understand what he says...

ayumi_fml 0

Saturday 11 April 2009 22:45

I totally feel for you. My whole family is from Haiti and half the time, I don't know what the hell they're saying... =X

i_am_the_shizz 0

Sunday 12 April 2009 1:45

awwh, thats sad :/

Oriina 0

Monday 13 April 2009 1:59

I can't say you deserve it, because some accents are /very/ hard to understand, despite how well the person learnst o speak English. BUT. You need to /tell/ them that you can't understand them and since saying "what" all the times is cumbersome (which I have to do with my husband's Russian family members ... damn accents) tell them to write it down because you can't understand them. How couldn't you gather that he wasn't joking by a probable saddend look on his face?

ichigolyn 6

Thursday 16 April 2009 2:45

I get what you did, it's not being ignorant since you didn't want to keep on asking "What?" every dozen times for a single word. Don't let it get to you since it's not your fault.